Make a Plan

Planning

It is critical to plan in advance of a disaster striking. The Division of Public Safety works tirelessly to prevent and protect the entire University from various disasters, but can’t eliminate every hazard. When you’re on campus and away from your family, it’s important to have a plan. Make a plan with your loved ones that covers:

How you will contact one another

How you will get to a safe place

How you will reconnect with each other

What information you will share and the sources you will get emergency updates from

And what you will do in different situations

It is essential that you have a communications plan in advance of an emergency. Communications are generally the first point to breakdown during an emergency. Practicing your communication plan ahead of time will greatly improve your situation during an emergency. Phone lines often become overloaded or lost during a crisis. Remember to text first, if possible.

Once communications plans are established, know where you will go. If there is a fire in the building, do you know two ways out? Where will your assembly point be outside? If you have to leave campus, do you know where you will go? How will you get there? Having answers to these simple questions could help save your life. Thinking about these questions might feel overwhelming, but it’s essential. Talk with your family, roommates, coworkers, and friends.

The UConn Office of Emergency Management has developed tools and information to help initiate the conversation and planning process.

Shelter-In-Place Guide

Personal Emergency Planning Tool

Start Planning!

Thinking about personal emergency preparedness can be confusing and everybody has their own unique circumstances to consider. To get you started, OEM has created a simple, online tool to help you create a personal emergency plan. The tool is intended to engage the community to think about emergency preparedness. No information is stored by the system or sent to emergency responders. Currently, there is a plan generator for commuters and campus residents.